


Sober Up

by Hayato (TheLennyBunny)



Series: Parallels [1]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Gen, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 09:51:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11228502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLennyBunny/pseuds/Hayato
Summary: Too little, too late.





	Sober Up

It was cold, and raining, and Tsuna ought to have been in school, but he didn’t fucking care at this point. He hadn’t bothered for the past two days, and going in would mean having to deal with his fake classmates “grieving”, bemoaning how they didn’t understand why, wishing they could save him- all bullshit.

It was obvious to anyone with eyes the baseball freak had been just waiting for the right moment to jump. Not that Tsuna could blame him- but that didn’t mean he cared. Especially when the taller teen had just watched, all these years.

Fucker.

The mousy boy burrowed further into his coat. It was his only protection from the weather. It couldn't even cover the bruises. He shifted slightly, watching the rain hit the seething river below. Was the disciplinary committee hunting him down, he wondered? So many students were “affected” by the tragedy, skipping school or having grades drop. Knowing Hibari-san and his gang, they were likely focused on just keeping the school stitched together.

Would he feel if they found and punished him?

Thunder sounded above, making him flinch. How was his mother doing in this storm? She probably brought in the plants on the porch, to make sure they didn’t drown. The clothesline would have been pulled in, and she would have focused on keeping the house cosy while it poured outside. If there were any strays wandering about the neighbourhood while she was tugging things in, they’d be brought in and given some table scraps and a small cushion to wait it out on.

Would she care if he was gone?

Would his father?

He didn’t know. 

He had the sudden urge to hear her voice, one last time- but he had thrown his phone in the river, first and foremost, as almost a promise. First it, then him. One piece of useless garbage after the next.

His knees cracked when he stood, and his thighs burnt. The bruises around his neck made it so hard to breathe.

He was so tired. It was so hard, now, trying to act happy, or some form of it, or to keep up an act of a stupid teenager. He didn’t care about games, or manga, or Kyoko. Everything was a disconnect- as though it were happening to another body, and he was getting the feedback, everything unclear except the pain.

He just wanted to feel something again.

The railing was cold under his palm. The water was a torrent.

* * *

 Namimori was a tense town. More so than it had ever been whenever Reborn visited it in the past. There was... an aura, of stress hanging over the city, infecting its inhabitants.

It didn’t bode well for his assignment.

The hitman had been observing the Sawada household for the past few days, which bode worse for his future. Tsunayoshi Sawada hadn’t been present in the house or appeared at all for the past week. Nana Sawada was in a perpetual state of pacing and contacting people, when she was in. When she wasn’t, the mother wandered the city, constantly looking around. Going into businesses, asking questions before leaving more upset than before.

Tsunayoshi was missing, with no sign to where he’d gone.

So Reborn did what he did best, and eked the information out of his target with barely any effort.

Nana was worse up close, he observed as she opened the door. Bags under her eyes, coupled with her rumpled hair and clothes made for the perfect picture of the distressed parent. She blinked at him blankly when she saw him.

“Ah, Ciaossu, Nana-san. I’m a friend of your husband, and was stopping in Namimori for business, so I thought to visit you and little Tsuna.” She gave a flinch at that, but smiled regardless, ushering him in with weak words.

One pot of tea later, they were seated at the dining table, Nana fidgeting with her hands. 

“Nana-san?” The woman jolted, blinking again. Not good, considering how much Iemitsu went on about his bubbly, perpetually cheerful wife.

“Ah, I’m sorry.... Reborn, right? You were at the wedding, I remember...” She trailed off. “It’s. It’s not a good time, right now, I’m afraid. The whole town’s so gloomy, I’m sure you’ve noticed, and Tsuna...”

“Tsuna?” She hesitated, eyeing him, before slumping over as if her strings were cut. Her shoulders shook as she ran a hand through her hair.

“I haven’t seen my Tsu-kun in almost a week, Reborn-san. I’ve searched his favorite stores and places, talked to the school, tried to see if anyone might know where he was. But-” she waved a hand vaguely, expression twisting. “That hasn’t done much,  _ obviously _ .”

“Does he have any friends? A girlfriend he might have run off with?” The woman quieted again, staring down at her untouched cup. He knew all this of course, knew the answers were no, but Nana was around the boy every day- for all he knew, she might know something.

“He doesn’t. I.” Another tremor, Reborn _really_ didn’t want to deal with a crying woman today, “I don’t think he has any friends, Reborn-san. All his teachers made it seem that way. One of them even- even called him _Dame-Tsuna_. He acted- _smug_ , that my son was gone.” She wiped angrily at her face, blowing out a sharp breath. “You’d think with Yamamoto-kun’s passing, they would know better.”

That was new information. “Yamamoto?”

“One of Tsuna-kun’s peers. He was on the baseball team, and a cheerful boy, from what I heard. He turned out to be a very good actor in the end, and jumped off the school roof about two weeks ago.” 

Ah.

That did not sound good.

“Reborn-san.” He looked to her. The fear was plain on her face. “I don’t want to consider it. But, Tsu-kun, he. He was always so unenthusiastic about life. Sleeping in, failing tests, hardly touching his food when he ate. With him disappearing right after this...” Her expression deepened into one of pain, and it made Reborn viscerally uncomfortable, to see it. He reached out to her, placing one hand over her’s as best he could.

“Don’t worry, Nana-san, I’ll find him.” 

She smiled tremulously at him. “Thank you, Reborn-san. I’m sorry for heaping all my business on you, especially with how busy you must be to have to come all the way to Japan.” Nana hesitated. “Please don’t report any of this back to Iemitsu just yet, or his boss. I- it’s hard enough right now, as it is, without Iemitsu panicking and sending reinforcements.”

Reborn was stunned into silence at that. She just gave him a tired stare. “Iemitsu is very unsubtle, Reborn-san. There’s only so much that a wife can ignore.” 

He left shortly afterwards.

* * *

He was left with no new leads, but the information would narrow his own search. 

It was a grave day when one had to search riverbanks and abandoned buildings for a child’s body.

But that too, yielded no results, frustrating him further. Did the boy run away? Scrap together enough for a train ticket somewhere huge like Tokyo? Did he go off in the woods, for some idiotic teenaged ideal?  _ Where was he? _

Hardly anyone was out during the day, those braving the weather hurrying past, barely glancing at the small figure standing at the bridge. The waters below were fast, likely due to recent rains, and the banks swollen. It was an unpleasant image, paired with the dreariness of the town.

Everything of this town was unpleasant, in fact, and he was debating bundling up in a hotel instead of the gloom for the night when a pulse of killing intent appeared behind him. The shithead kid was lucky that he was fast enough to miss the bullet, and Reborn was lucky there weren’t any civilians around.

“You’re Fon’s nephew, aren’t you?” The brat grunted, but didn’t deny it for all the fact apparently pissed him off.

“Arcobaleno. You’re looking for him, aren’t you.” Reborn’s gaze sharpened.

“Him?” The boy snorted, almost rolling his eyes.

“You come into Namimori, hover around the home of the Sawada family, and interact with Sawada Nana. Following this interaction, you begin to monitor common sites of suicide as well as reviewing security footage.” Hibari’s eyes gleamed, his teeth bared in a fakery of a smile. “You are a very stupid man, to be doing something like that in a town owned by the Tori no Mure.” This child was asking for a bullet in the foot. 

“That doesn’t answer my question, boy.” Hibari watched him for a moment, seemingly contemplating his answer like a smart teenager, before whipping out a phone and speed dialing.

“Bring the car to the bridge, Kusakabe.” 

* * *

The man driving was silent, and the ride was a fast one; if he wasn’t mistaken, the traffic was being manipulated to a point. Reborn wondered if it was the boy or the group’s influence. The fact they arrived at the hospital was grim, if a possibility he had considered. Nana likely wouldn’t have checked here, considering her fears, and Namimori seemed negligent enough to not bother informing the woman if her son was in hospital.His mood went from grim to dread when, instead of heading upstairs to the patients’ r ooms or even to the ICU, Hibari led the hitman downwards, all the way to the bowels of the building.

T he only things below were the morgue and storage.

* * *

 

The body’s face was peaceful. 

It was a stark contrast to the bruises that littered the rest of it, imprints of the ribs visible and handprints just barely there on its arms and collarbone. Looking at them hurt less than looking at the thin marks covering its thighs, though.

This had been his intended student, less than a week ago. Looking at its sum, he knew instinctively that he would have broken Tsunayoshi before he could ever build him up.

“What happened to him?” He reached out a small hand, tilting its head. Hibari himself reached out, smoothing out its hair in an unnervingly tender gesture.

The boy’s face was a painting of fury.

“I was negligent. I should have realised the herd would be weak with Yamamoto Takeshi’s suicide.” His scowl stretched into a snarl, eyes focused on nothing. “I should have eliminated the deviants before they could cause this much damage.” He turned abruptly, stalking to the doorway. “You have ten hours to leave, Arcobaleno Reborn. Punishment will follow if you are still within the jurisdiction of the Tori no Mure at that time.”

The hitman didn’t move as the door slammed with a bang.

He could only barely comprehend this- or rather, he could; its effects, though, seemed impossible, as though this were a scenario someone had proposed rather than reality.

Nono would be livid, and heartbroken. He had adored Tsunayoshi, from the few times he had met the boy and what he had heard from Iemitsu. Iemitsu... would be unmanageable. There would need to be majour restructuring of Vongola, Sawada possibly taking over until another heir could be produced, since Xanxus was unviable. Families would view La Vongola as weaker, and may target them more in the coming years; they would have to rely more on alliances, and ensure there were no traitors or holes in security.

Someone would have to tell Nana.

Reborn took off his fedora and thought a small prayer to a god he usually disparaged, tipping his head to the corpse. The walk to the door was short, and the door was opened and closed with nary a sound.

The body stayed.

**Author's Note:**

> I have to be honest with you all, this is actually pretty probable in canon, in my opinion. Bullied by all your peers, singled out and belittled by the administration and staff, and treated like a general pariah for perceived faults, combined with unintentionally neglectful parents, constantly living with the knowledge everyone including your own family sees you as pathetic... It honestly, truly makes me nauseous.  
> I got to this point with a lot less.


End file.
